Researchers and team members from the Podium Institute attended the 2nd International Conference on Injury & Illness Prevention in Sport at the University of Bath on 17th and 18th June 2026. The conference brought together researchers, clinicians, practitioners, policymakers and students from around the world, providing a valuable forum for sharing knowledge, building collaborations and advancing athlete health and injury prevention.

Hosted and co-organised by Professor Keith Stokes, and the UK Collaborating Centre on Injury and Illness Prevention in Sport (UKCCIIS), with Podium Analytics as Headline Supporter, the conference explored a range of topics including positive management of growth and maturation; mental health in sport; female athlete health; respiratory medicine; data-driven innovation in sport and winter sports.

The Podium Institute was out in force, attending talks and panel discussions while contributing a number of posters and presentations. DPhil student Melis Atbinek presented a poster titled Objective Measures of Internal Load in Elite Team Sports: A Systematic Review and also delivered an oral presentation in the Athlete Health, Load Monitoring & Mental Health track. Reflecting on the event, Melis shared that the most rewarding aspect of the conference “was discussing my project with practitioners from different sports.”

Fellow researchers Tobias Harritz and Ryman Hashem also presented their work. Tobias showcased research exploring the effects of concussion history and neck strength on brain microstructure in elite rugby players, while Ryman presented a poster on a variable-stiffness pneumatic capsule wearable designed for impact attenuation in sport. DPhil student Konstantin Dzavaryan presented his research, Neuromuscular Head-Neck Digital Twins for Sports Impact Reconstruction and Traumatic Brain Injury Analysis, as part of the Concussion, Head Injury & Neck Health track.

“The conference was a great chance to engage with a wide variety of practitioners, researchers and athletes. One session that particularly stood out to me was Data-Driven Innovation in Sport, which demonstrated the promising role technology can play in improving health, enhancing performance and helping to prevent injuries in sport.” Tobias Harritz

Podium Institute’s Director, Professor Constantin Coussios OBE FREng FMedSci, joined Professor Ezio Preatoni in leading the Data-Driven Innovation in Sport track, contributing to discussions on the growing role of technology and analytics in athlete health and performance.

Yosra Mekki, who joined the Podium team at the conference, presented her research on artificial intelligence for lower limb muscle injury management in athletes, alongside a sex-stratified analysis of injury prediction models, all part of her work on multimodal machine learning for female athlete health at the Zavatsky and Noble Labs within the Institute of Biomedical Engineering.

Yosra explained that UKCCIIS 2026 “was a fantastic opportunity to connect with world-renowned experts and International Olympic Committee (IOC) Centres across the UK, all united around a shared commitment to advancing athlete health, with a particular focus on female athlete health.”

“It was particularly exciting to learn about the current practical measures that are being applied in concussion and injury prevention across sports.” Konstantin Dzavaryan